Just When You Least Expect It
by Sean Gaffney
Summary: Sei Satou and Kei Katou are just trying to get through life being close friends, but a little birdie is trying to tell them something. Over and over again.


Just When You Least Expect It

by Sean Gaffney

* * *

This isn't a sequel to Double Fantasy, nor is it in Erica's Roman Holiday universe, though this fic was inspired by the Kei one she wrote for that. It sort of takes place in my ideal Kei/Sei-verse, where they obey my every command. :)

* * *

It wasn't particularly noticeable at first. Kei had had to wrack her brain to even remember it, but she was fairly sure that this was where the first hammer had struck. Sei seemed to agree, though she had better recall of it. It was hard to recall something so subtle when they had been victims of much sillier things. 

They had been studying in the library together, as Sei had encountered a class that she actually needed to do research for. Thrilled, since she very seldom got the chance to stretch out, she had turned it into a grand studying outing, even bringing a picnic lunch. Or, to be more accurate, whining at Kei to prepare a picnic lunch for them.

So Kei was in the library, enjoying the peace and quiet. She'd have been here anyway, as she was in the same class as Sei, and if Sei was being forced to study, she would have to really put her nose to the grindstone in order to keep up with her.

Not that they were competing. Of course not.

She noted down where the book she needed was, and went to the shelf, still gathering her thoughts. She reached up to get the book, and instead found herself grabbing a hand. Startled, she looked over and found herself nose to nose with Sei.

Despite herself, she turned a little pink. Sei was as unflappable as ever.

"We seem to be of like mind," she murmured quietly.

Kei breathed in... and then grabbed the book. She smiled wryly, and the moment passed. Exactly the sort of thing you wouldn't even remember unless you were looking for it.

* * *

A few weeks later, there was the massage. Kei had slipped and fallen on one of the insidious ginkgo nuts that littered the campus, and pulled a muscle in her back. Cursing, she had carefully winced her way home, hoping that a hot bath would solve the problem. It hadn't. 

Then Sei had arrived, and noticed the pain that she was in. Sei had offered to rub her back, and massage away the muscle tension. Kei had agreed.

Then somehow, without even speaking, they had ended up with Kei lying on her stomach on the bed, with Sei sitting lightly over her and massaging her tortured back muscles. It was exactly what she had needed, and when Sei hit a particularly tight knot, Kei had moaned loudly in appreciation.

And then the situation they were in had hit her like a hammer.

It had apparently hit Sei too, who had stopped her ministrations. At first Kei thought that Sei was breathing harder, but decided that she was imagining things. After all, it was the perfect position to imagine such things.

Kei had decided to break the awkward silence. "It's OK, Sei. Don't read more into this than there is." She could have phrased it better, really, but then saying things and then realizing they'd come out wrong was one of her lovable character traits. Sei had said so herself.

Luckily, Sei understood what she meant, and continued with the massage, which had finished without any more unfortunate moans.

* * *

It wasn't until the vacation that they both began to realize that the hammers were starting to fall a little thickly. They were in Rome, and Sei was like a little kid, running around trying to see every single sight, in case they closed forever just before she arrived. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and Kei found herself running around just as hard, a big grin on her face. 

Then the rain hit. This was not one of those rains where you feel little drops, look up, and then seek cover before it begins in earnest. This was a 'suddenly the sky opened' rain where you found yourself completely drenched in a matter of seconds. The two of them found themselves frantically looking for shelter, finally taking refuge under a large stone archway.

Shivering, Kei clutched her arms together as she looked outside. It was later than she'd thought, so it was hard to see anything besides the downpour and the occasional blurred streetlight. She shivered again, and suddenly found an arm around her shoulders.

"You cold?" Her voice was tight, and Kei couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, and so are you." Sei chuckled, and wrapped the other arm around her, leaning onto her shoulder. "I can't help it if you're so warm..."

Kei relaxed, Sei's body heat starting to get rid of the worst of the cold. She leaned back a bit, and found her head instinctively leaning against Sei's.

Then they stopped. And looked at each other again.

"More hammers?" Sei inquired.

"More hammers." She moved her head forward, but didn't move away from Sei. The two of them continued to huddle together as they waited for the rain to stop.

* * *

After that, there was just no avoiding them. 

There was Sachiko's graduation party, where Yoshino for some reason decided to bring along the game of Twister. Naturally, Kei and Sei had ended up wrapped around each other, faces almost touching.

There was the time when Sei had angered her friend Youko, presumably by doing something insufferably Sei-like. Kei had no idea why Sei was hiding, as she must have known by that time that all of her friends would forgive her everything up to and possibly including homicide. But Sei had grabbed her hand and dragged her into a convenient broom closet, where they had stood pressed against one another, trying not to breathe so as not to give their position away.

"You brought that hammer on yourself," Kei had said afterwards. Sei pouted, and Kei began to laugh hysterically at her face. Sei had joined in until the two of them were prostrate with laughter on her couch, ending up with lips almost touching.

"What were you saying about bringing hammers on us?" Sei said, sparking a fresh, separate round of laughter.

After a while, they became a sort of shared curse, something that bonded the two together in a massive display of karmic evil. Sei, who had always flirted harmlessly with Kei before, didn't even need to work hard at it anymore. The situations they found themselves in were so hilariously cliched that Kei at one point suggested they look for the funk guitarist who must surely be playing in the background.

* * *

And then, just as suddenly as the hammers had started, they had stopped. It was as if karma had simply thrown its hands up in disgust and walked off. Their lives returned to what passed for normal, with absolutely no wacky situations or comic misunderstandings. 

That's not to say it had totally failed to affect them. They said less these days, being more comfortable with a quirked eyebrow or cocked head. The awkwardness that had always plagued them in the early days of their friendship was gone. Kei no longer felt that Sei was an annoying pest who glided through life on the charity of others. And Sei no longer felt as if she had to be careful to be glib and carefree for fear that she would once again find herself too close to someone.

In fact, everyone who knew them now thought they were a couple. They had all the signs of two people who had fallen for each other. Except, of course, that they hadn't. They were still in the habit of avoiding those trying hammers.

And so it came to pass that one night they were seated in Kei's room, studying as usual. Which is to say Kei was reading the material and Sei had gotten bored and was gazing off into space. Kei had tuned Sei out, being engrossed in the curriculum. She had her hair tied up, and was rolling a pencil under her lips.

And then she finished the last of the material, and popped her lips so that the pencil flew out, landing with a soft thud right in the middle of her notebook. Grinning, she raised an arm in victory.

She looked up and saw Sei looking at her, her lips parted slightly. The look could only be described as 'scorching'. Kei felt herself get hotter just looking at it.

"God, I want you so badly," Sei said. There was a slight pause. Sei waited for the moment when she'd realize she said the wrong thing and flee. It didn't come. Kei waited for the inevitable point where she'd say that she wasn't ready for something like that, wasn't sure if she ever would be. It passed by without a sound.

Instead Kei found herself getting lightly to her feet, walking over, and sitting herself right in Sei's lap. And then she leaned forward and began, without preamble, to kiss the hell out of her.

They sat there for an incredibly long time, taking pleasure in each other. No clothes were removed, but that wasn't so much due to not wanting to go that far as much as simply not being tired of the other's person's lips just yet.

Eventually, they slowed to a stop, still breathing heavily. Sei's face was aglow with a happy smile, one Kei didn't think she'd ever seen before. As for Kei, she assumed that she was smiling. Though considering how dazed she felt, it was more likely a goofy grin.

Suddenly Kei giggled. "What's up?" Sei asked.

"No hammers," she replied, and Sei found herself laughing.

* * *

Somewhere else, out in the night, karma screamed loudly in anguished frustration. 

END

* * *

Thanks to the Fanfic Revolution for pre-reading. 


End file.
